DEAI – American Alliance of Museums

Improving Access to Employment for People with Disabilities

By Dana Spencer Winfield

The museum sector is working to increase the diversity of our workforce through a variety of ways: for example, how we craft position requirements, word job announcements, and conduct interviews. That is helping museums make some progress …
Hiring into Pathways for Advancement

By Elizabeth Merritt

What if every entry level museum job was designed to be the first rung in a career ladder for anyone who desires to climb? How could that change who wants to work in a museum, and whether they are willing to commit to the long-term? How …
Museums and Equity: Volunteers

By Elizabeth Merritt

Note: this post is adapted from a post originally published on the CFM blog in 2019. 42% male 22% African American, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity 66% under the age of 55 49% with less than a college degree That’s the demographic …
#5WomenArtists Shaping Museum Practice

By Elizabeth Merritt

Museums are among the most trusted sources of information and can use that superpower of trust to nudge society towards preferred futures. Today on the blog, Amy Mannarino, Director of Communications and Marketing at the National Museum of …
Table Setting: The work before the work

By Levon Williams

Often when I talk with folks about DEAI work there is a sense of urgency. They’ll say, “We’ve gotta make this happen now because so and so is really a problem,” or “We need our community engagement initiative started yesterday, so let’s …
Sharing the Wealth: Museums as Equity Engines

By Elizabeth Merritt

Recently, I’ve been speaking of museums as banks—repositories of enormous wealth of reputation, knowledge, and influence, in addition to the sheer value of their endowments. I’ve advanced the thesis that by managing this wealth as a type …
Meet the Facing Change Senior Diversity Fellows

By Ibrahim Shafau

Only nine short months have passed since AAM began its initiative Facing Change: Advancing Museum Board Diversity & Inclusion, which provides training, support, and resources to help museum leadership become more representative of the …
Museums and Equity: Volunteers

By Elizabeth Merritt

42% male 22% African American, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity 66% under the age of 55 49% with less than a college degree That’s the demographic profile of volunteers in the US*. Does it describe your museum’s volunteers? For many …
Info Session for AAM’s Fellowship Program for Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion: Video and Transcript

By Joseph O'Neill

Transcript Tonya Matthews, Director of Inclusion: So, we want to get started with a bit of logistics and overview. My name is Dr. Tonya Matthews. I am the Director of Inclusion here at the American Alliance of Museums. I am supported this …
A Place at the Table: Developing diversity and next-generation leaders

By Lynn Miller

In 2018, the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in Ohio named Asmaa Walton, a Detroit native with a master’s degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, its first KeyBank Museum Fellow. The announcement brought a four-year process of development, …